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526 Posts
Hate to bring this up but I bet some of you have a lot of "stuff' that means next to nothing to anyone else. What is it REALLY worth and where will it go - when you go?
Sadly, I have been the primary person involved in two estate sales during the past year in which there was a great deal of G scale - and other - trains and all the support items.
Case #1: A father passed away with is wife and family believing he had accumulated about $70,000.00 in G scale trains. Could I find a buyer? Well, after a week or so doing an inventory with the daughter we find that it actually retailed for about $23K - when new. Ouch! After a time the very best offer was $7K, or 30 + cents on the dollar, and the Mom said no way. A year later it all still sits unused and unappreciated in the basement. Perhaps hubby should have been more honest but still....
Case #2: A friend is pretty sure is time is up and the family knows it as well. He tells his daughter that I am to sell it off for "what ever I can get" as soon as possible if things turn sour. His G scale things bring in a little over $2000.00 with in a week and it's all sold in a month at about 38 cents on the dollar. His HO items bring in $1500.00 right away and there are bids (eBay) on the rest that amount to another $1500.00. By the 1st of April it will all be cleaned up and the family can move on.
Curious. What are your plans? Where does it all go? Dose your family REALLY know what it's all worth? Is there a trusted agent/friend to take care of it all? Perhaps your planning on getting rid of it yourself. Can you?
Me? I haven't the faintest idea. I've thought about it but I don't like the options. No one in the family has any idea what to do with it all and I don't like having stringers tearing it apart and taking it all away. That's really silly eh?
Comments.
Dave
Sadly, I have been the primary person involved in two estate sales during the past year in which there was a great deal of G scale - and other - trains and all the support items.
Case #1: A father passed away with is wife and family believing he had accumulated about $70,000.00 in G scale trains. Could I find a buyer? Well, after a week or so doing an inventory with the daughter we find that it actually retailed for about $23K - when new. Ouch! After a time the very best offer was $7K, or 30 + cents on the dollar, and the Mom said no way. A year later it all still sits unused and unappreciated in the basement. Perhaps hubby should have been more honest but still....
Case #2: A friend is pretty sure is time is up and the family knows it as well. He tells his daughter that I am to sell it off for "what ever I can get" as soon as possible if things turn sour. His G scale things bring in a little over $2000.00 with in a week and it's all sold in a month at about 38 cents on the dollar. His HO items bring in $1500.00 right away and there are bids (eBay) on the rest that amount to another $1500.00. By the 1st of April it will all be cleaned up and the family can move on.
Curious. What are your plans? Where does it all go? Dose your family REALLY know what it's all worth? Is there a trusted agent/friend to take care of it all? Perhaps your planning on getting rid of it yourself. Can you?
Me? I haven't the faintest idea. I've thought about it but I don't like the options. No one in the family has any idea what to do with it all and I don't like having stringers tearing it apart and taking it all away. That's really silly eh?
Comments.
Dave